Displaying items by tag: consulting

For most high-tech ventures, it is not easy  to get funding while they are at an early stage. The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) has become one of the most important funding source for seed phase startups. It offers up to 500.000 Euros in from of an open partnership combined with a subordinated loan.

For all those who want to get into a conversation with the HTGF, bwcon will offer a HTGF consultation day at the 16th of September 2014, which will take place at the MAFINEX-Technologiezentrum in Mannheim. During this event, investment managers of the HTGF founder team will be available for personal consultation interviews of 45 minutes. The goals will be an assessment of the business ideas an their adequacy for a HTGF funding as well as an identification of the need for support. Furthermore, other investment fonds can appear as side investors.

The target groups of the event are:

• Teams of founders or researchers in the pre-founding phase. They will be able to discuss their need for development until they will be ready for receiving funding.

• Founding teams that are searching for seed funding.

If you are interested in getting an appointment, please fill out the attached onepager and send it until August 29th to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. A participation will be free of charge.

Are interested in the German startup scene and eager to know which challenges entrepreneurs have to face? Then apply for the "Echtzeit" program by McKinsey and work together with startups like Stocard, Outfittery and Kiveda.

When? September 11. - 14. 2014
Where? Berlin
Wer? Students and postgraduates from all disciplines
Deadline for applications: Sunday, 3rd of August 2014

You wil conduct a consulting project, work on solutions for entrepreneurs and present your results at the end of the program. Furthermore, you can look forward to a surprise event on Saturday.

Program timetable:

Learn more about Echtzeit at eFellows and the McKinsey homepage. Please find the application form here.

To support young startups and give students a chance to leverage their skills, we created “Inside the Venture” – a format where students act as consultants and solve pressing issues for early stage ventures. Concerning this offering, we owe a lot to the student consultancy INTEGRA e.V. They have conducted several consulting projects at young ventures by now, which always turned out as great successes and helped the involved startups a lot. Here is a report about on our first co-operative project, which evaluated the market chances of a new product released by the Mannheim-based tech startup OPASCA.

A multidisciplinary team led by Christian Irlbeck reviewed the market potential in Germany, Austria and Switzlerland for medXguard, which is a personal security system for radiotherapy facilities. To do that, they firstly analyzed the needs and demand for the product, amongst other things by interviewing experts. In further steps, they assessed the legal framework for radiation therapy in the respective regions and the product range of dedicated competitors. They also detected trends, chances and risks associated with OPASCA’s business model and derived alternative applications for medX to advance it.

The whole team worked on a high level of professionalism and with a lot of dedication. Each member invested more than 100 hours into the 2-month project – a sum that seems even more impressive if one remembers that they also simultaneously managed their INTEGRA e.V. obligations and regular student workload!

The project was conducted in Spring Term 2013.

INTEGRA student consultants assisted the Mannheim Pharma & Diagnostics GmbH in refining der business model and adapting their pricing strategy. They developed a highly sophisticated and responsive pricing model.

The Mannheim Pharma & Diagnostics GmbH is developing innovative test patches which can make the detection of kidney and liver dysfunctions much cheaper and easier than before. The technology was initially designed for human application but the Mannheim Pharma started to consider animal health as a highly lucrative market with less barriers to entry.

An INTEGRA team consisting of Tobias Regele (project manager), Andreas Schumacher and Franz Joseph Hinzen came in to evaluate the market chances for animal diagnostic patches. To do that, they analyzed the German and US markets for animal health and interviewed a sample of potential clients and veterinarians about their willingness to pay for the product. They also compared the pricing strategies of relevant competitors. At the end, the team created a quantitative pricing model and sensitivity analysis with different scenarios and drew concrete action recommendations for refining the business.

Thanks to the project team for the remarkable results of the project! The high intrinsic motivation and great professionalism of its members should not go unnoticed. Our special thanks goes to INTEGRA for making such great projects possible and to the team for pulling all these all-nighters to be able to come up with this great due diligence and results in such a short period of time.

The project was conducted in Fall Term 2013.

Annika participated in an “Inside the Venture” project at contagt. “Inside the Venture”-projects are not only useful to the involved startups – they also offer student consultants great chances to evolve and get incomparable hands-on experiences! Here’s a personal report from Annika Wiecek, who conducted market analyses and PR measures for contagt together with Lisa Schellhorn:

"You want to know how theory relates to practice? You want to know what it is like to work in a real start-up? You want to apply your knowledge to a real business case? Then you should join “Inside the Venture” at the Mannheim Center for Entrepreneurship!

I had the great opportunity to spend a whole semester in a real start-up, named “contagt”. I was able to see how a start-up works, what it challenges and chances are. Every week I observed the progress of our project and took part in the daily work that a start-up entails. Finally, I could make use of all my knowledge and really lend a hand. I was treated as a full-fledged team member, I could bring in and realize my own ideas, I was involved in all major decisions and a lot of responsibility was placed upon me. Soon, I realized, that I really could influence the future of the start-up! It really has been an amazing time and I always enjoyed working with Johannes, Lisa and the other team members. Even though it has only been one semester, I can say that I learned so much, not only about starting-up but also about how to be a better organizer, how to think strategically, how to be a good team member – things that you do not learn by simply attending university. I do not want to miss this time by any means! It really is different to see for yourself how a start-up works, to get involved and exert influence. In a start-up, YOU can have a real impact! Everyone who plays with the idea of starting-up or those who want to work with start-ups or as a consultant should definitely take this chance and join the “Inside the Venture Project”. I can promise you, that you will have a great time! You will not only learn things  that cannot be taught and get hands-on experiences but you will also become friends with very inspirational and warm-hearted people."

We thank Annika for her support and sharing her thoughts on the project with us!

About contagt

The award-winning startup is focused on developing a unique solution to indoor-navigation with smartphones, which is the first of its kind worldwide. The technology is based on Quick Response Codes (QR) and Near Field Communication Chips (NFC) technologies. Through an app, users can import codes to detect their current position within a building. Hence, the app offers a solution which may be compared to a 'Google Maps within buildings’, which then navigates users through the building to a desired destination. contagt has won the Hohenzollern Innovation Prize and a prize by the MRN Foundation for innovative projects.

Assessing the market prospects for electroluminescent foils

Master student Phillip Haake has conducted an Inside the Venture Master thesis project in collaboration with the InnovationLab (IL) in Heidelberg. He assessed the prospects for commercialization of electroluminescent foils, which are produced with a revolutionary production technology. The assessment involved market research of various current and future application markets and an analysis of the technological requirements for catering to these different market needs. His study encompassed a description of different material, design and production options for electroluminescent foil. The theoretically possible was also compared with the currently available technology and a list of quotations for different configurations of the foil was produced. This allowed to weigh the costs of design choices at current market prices. Furthermore, the thesis project included the approach of possible partners for the design and testing of prototypes, which would make use of the electroluminescent foils. A keen interest in different lighting technology and several partners for potential prototypes were identified.

The theoretical part of Phillip's Master thesis deals with the analysis of research on clusters. It provides insights into the applicability of set-theoretic research methods such as qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) for research on clusters. While working on his master thesis, Phillip had a lot of interaction with the team at the IL and with many market participants. This helped him to gain a thorough understanding of the particular market for the technology of electroluminescence and related technological advancements. We thank Phillip for his great work!

About the InnovationLab

The InnovationLab is a research- and transfer platform of science and economy in the Rhein-Neckar-Region. It was born by the University of Mannheim, the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) as well as the corporations BASF SE, Merck KGaA, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and SAP AG. Its goal is the creation of interdisziplinary research platforms that allow cooperative projects of different partners and the transfer of inventions into marketable products.

In an “Inside the Venture” project in cooperation with the student consultancy INTEGRA e.V., a highly skilled and motivated team of 5 students consultants has conducted the project “Financial Optimization and Competitor Analysis for CM3P“. CM3P is a spin-off from the University of Applied Sciences Mannheim. It develops advanced customized software solutions with a focus on medical technology applications.

During the assessment of the startup’s needs, it became clear that an optimization of the cash flow management and liquidity planning would be highly valuable to the young venture. Thus, Nina Haarkötter (project leader), Anton Reindl, Stephan Ebert, Philipp Emert and Marius Hepp designed and programmed a liquidity planning tool, validated the underlying assumptions, conducted an implementation workshop and furthermore analyzed different scenarios to obtain implications for the financial planning of C3MP. As a second part, the project also included a profound competitor analysis based on competitive intelligence- surveys, which were analyzed using an extra developed scoring system.

The performance of the consultant team was of a remarkable standard and to the highest satisfaction of the startup . The dedication they showed is very impressive – despite of the project being free of charge, each team member put more than 80 hours of hard effort into it! Thus, we and CM3P thank them very much and wish them all the best for their future careers, which surely will be amazing! We also thank INTEGRA e.V. for making such fruitful projects possible. We can give INTEGRA e.V. the highest possible recommendation. 

The project was conducted in Fall Term 2013.

As an entrepreneurship center, the MCEI offers numerous opportunities for startups to find the support and advice they need. One especially successful program  that we have established together with the excellent student consultancy INTEGRA e.V.  is “Inside the Venture”, a consulting program that provides young companies with on-site teams of outstanding students to solve pressing challenges. In this project, the student consulktancy INTEGRA e.V. sent a highly skilled team to support heat2power. The project lasted from April 2013 throughout September 2013.

In 2013, we launched 4  “Inside the Venture” projects in cooperation with INTEGRA e.V. and one MCEI student project, which all brought remarkable results. One of these projects was to evaluate the market opportunities for heat2power. Heat2power is an award-winning startup in the seed phase whose technology holds the possibility to make the conversion of waste heat to electricity feasible. The idea is to address e.g. sewage plants and other applications, where state-of the art solutions would just not be productive because they need a higher temperature range in waste heat. This is enables by a unique and patented technology.

The consulting team consisting of Sandra Sester (project leader), Johanna Mader and Moritz Blum analyzed the energy market as well as the strengths and weaknesses of heat2power profoundly and used the results to conduct a critical business model analysis. At the end, they also derived pricing implications and formulated concrete action recommendations.

Besides the high quality of the project results, we found the professionalism and commitment of the team extremely remarkable and impressive. Each team member worked more than 100 hours free of charge! We are proud that we can offer such an extraordinary service to venture due to the students’ high intrinsic motivation to learn more about the startup setting and to foster their consulting skills. Many thanks from heat2power and us to INTEGRA e.V. and the outstanding project team!

Currently, we have 3 Student Accelerator Projects in FSS 2013 (spring term). 

1. Profound market and competitor analysis at a Medical Engineering Startup.
   • team size: 5
   • executed with INTEGRA student consultants
2. Business model verification and scenario planning at a Process and Environmental Engineering Startup
   • team size: 3
   • executed with INTEGRA student consultants
3. Internationalization @SponsoRun
   • team size: to be defined
   • application still open

More information for students who want to join

More information for startups that want to join

Student Candidates can join our Inside the Venture team and apply directly via e-mail or MCEI message to Jan Zybura. Please add your relevant CV to give some indication on which project suits you best. You will then be added to a dedicated Inside the Venture Group within our MCEI network to provide you with a community of knowledge exchange.